Abdirahman Omar Osman (also known as Abdirahman Yariisow and Engineer Yarisow; 16 August 1965 – 1 August 2019) was a Somali politician who was the Governor of

Banaadir Banaadir ( so, Banaadir, ar, بنادر, it, Benadir) is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in southeastern Somalia. It covers the same area as the city of Mogadishu, which serves as the capital. It is bordered to the northwest by the Shabel ...

and

Mayor of Mogadishu The Mayor of Mogadishu is head of the executive branch of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces laws within the city. Ma ...

. Abdirahman Omar Osman, also known as Eng. Yarisow, was involved in Somali politics for the last 12 years of his life. He served the Government of Somalia as a senior advisor, Minister of Information twice, Minister of Treasury, spokesperson of the government, Senior Media & Strategic Communications Advisor and Senior Advisor & Spokesperson of the Office of the President.

Early life

Abdirahman Omar Osman was born on 16 August 1965 in the district of Hodan,

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port ...

, Somalia, Osman obtained a BSc in Civil Engineering from the

Somali National University Somali National University (SNU) ( so, Jaamacadda Ummadda Soomaaliyeed, ar, الجامعة الوطنية الصومالية, it, Università Nazionale Somala) is a national university in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. Its campus grounds w ...

before fleeing the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

in 1991 and arriving as a

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. There he received an

NVQ National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) are practical work-based awards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that are achieved through assessment and training. The regulatory framework supporting NVQs was withdrawn in 2015 and replaced by the ...

Level 2 in Business Administration and a

Certificate of Higher Education A Certificate of Higher Education (Cert.H.E./CertHE) is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom. Overview The Certificate is awarded after one year of full-time study (or equivalent) at a university or other higher education institu ...

in computing at a college. He then earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from the

University of Westminster , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...

in 2004, and served as a Labour Party councilor. He was granted corporate membership of the UK

Chartered Institute of Housing The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) is the professional body for those working in the housing profession in the United Kingdom. It has a royal charter, gained in 1984. Currently CIH has over 17,000 members, mostly in the UK but also overseas, ...

in 2006. In 2008, he returned to Somalia to help rebuild the country after the war.

Mayor of Mogadishu

Osman was appointed Mayor of Mogadishu following the dismissal of the then Mayor, Thabit Abdi Mohammed, by President

Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed ( so, Maxaamed Cabdullaahii Maxaamed, ar, محمد عبدالله محمد; born 11 March 1962), also known as Farmaajo, is a Somali politician who served as president of Somalia from 2017 to 2022. He was prime minist ...

on 21 Septembre 2017.

Death and international reactions

On 24 July 2019, a

female suicide bomber Female suicide bombers are women who carry out a suicide attack, wherein the bomber kills herself while simultaneously killing targeted people. Suicide bombers are normally viewed as male political radicals but since the 1960s female suicide attac ...

entered and blew herself up inside Osman's Mogadishu mayoral office, killing six government officials and injuring nine of Osman's staff.

James C. Swan James Christopher Swan (born December 10, 1963) is an American diplomat. He was the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Somalia from May 2019 to October 2022. Early life and education Swan was born on 10 December ...

, the recently appointed diplomat and special envoy to Somalia of the United States of America, was the target of the bomber, but Swan had met the mayor earlier, leaving before the blast occurred. Osman was critically wounded in the attack, and he died from his injuries a week later on 1 August 2019, after having been transported to and hospitalised in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

. Osman was mourned by members of the international community, including Swan, who condemned the attack as 'heinous.' His life was also commemorated for his long years of civil service and objective to improve Somalia's unfavourable conditions. The

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

n Islamist terrorist organisation al-Shabaab (the Somalian-based jihadist splinter of

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

) declared its responsibility for the orchestrating of the attack, claiming that the suicide bomber was one of their militants. It is believed that Ikran Tahlil Farah, a former employee of Osman, who was herself abducted in Mogadishu in June 2021 and remains missing, may have been in possession of sensitive information regarding the attack.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osman, Abdirahman Abdi 2019 deaths Assassinated Somalian politicians Deaths by suicide bomber Government ministers of Somalia Mayors of places in Somalia Somali National University alumni Alumni of the University of Westminster Place of birth missing 1965 births